Concealed hinge



April 13, 1954 H. A. WEISS CONCEALED HINGE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 3, 1951 INVENTOR. Harold A. Weiss BY M 7(/ 544.661 0 24 A 7'7'0RNEY April 13, 1954 H. A. WEISS 2,674,761

CONCEALED HINGE Filed Aug. 3, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVE{VTOR. Horo/d A; Welss BY fitmmv yw M ATTORNEYS.

April 13, 1954 H. A. WEISS CONCEALED HINGE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 3, 1951 mwzzyrozm Harold A. We/ss I I I l I I BY 76 KM fl ATTORNEY5.

Patented Apr. 13, 1954 CONCEALED HINGE Harold Arthur Weiss, Oak Park, Mich., assignor to Soss Manufacturing Company, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Maine Application August 3, 1951, Serial No. 240,148

Claims. (01. 16-164) This invention relates to concealed hinges for use on cabinets, particularly refrigerator cabinets and home freezers. It is the object of the invention to provide a multiple leaf hinge of the general type of a Soss hinge, which can be used on a refrigerator for supporting a door so that the door Will be stopped in its opening movement at approximately 90. This will be very advantageous in many kitchens, especially where the refrigerator is placed in an alcove and it is desirable to stop the door when it has swung to a perpendicular position, and the door will not swing beyond the side of the cabinet because the hinge pulls the hinging edge of the door in toward the opening in the cabinet as the door is swung open.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hinge which will, when the door is closed, lock the hinge edge of the door to the cabinet by means of a toggle thrown over center. Still an.- other object of the invention is for the door to open by the Weatherstrip separating from the jamb of the door and not being drawn across the jamb face to scuif the Weatherstrip and the face of the jainb.

1 in advantage to the refrigerator manufacturer is that the hinge mounts flat on the surface and does not cut into the door or cabinet wall.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. l is a small elevational view of a refrigeraequipped with my concealed hinge.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1, showing the door closed.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. is a similar section showing the door partially open.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4..

Fig. 6 is a section through the refrigerator and "1e door showing the door completely open and stopped in the 90 position.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section through the and lid showing a modified form of the hinge.

Fig. 8 is a similar view of the modified form of the hinge with the lid open.

9 is an elevational view of the hinge taken from the right of Fig. 8.

The cabinet here shown is a refrigerator and has the usual insulated wall 1. A mounting plate is secured thereto by the bolts and nuts 3. A mounting plate ii is secured to the inside of the door by the bolts and. nuts 5. The mounting plate 2 has the shelf 6 which pivotally supports at l the hockey type or hooked lever of the first order 8 which has its end pivoted at 9 to lugs 2 of the mounting plate 4 on the door. The turned cut end of the lever B is pivoted at I l to the short links 12 and I20, which in turn are pivoted to the inner ends 13a of the second levers of the first order It. The outer ends of levers it are pivoted at it to the control arm I5. These levers have been spoken of as though they were single leaf arms, but if Figs. 3 and 5 are examined it will be seen that the arm 8 is formed of a pile of eight plates. There are two arms [3, each of which is made up of two plates. There are two links 52 and 52a, each of which is made up of two plates. There is an upper shelf 6 and a lower shelf 18a on the mounting plate 2. The power end 8a of 3 the first mentioned lever 8 is secured to the links I? and Mia by means of the long pin it (see Fig. 3). The upper and lower shelves 6 and Eta of the mounting plate 2 are provided with the down turned boss I1 and the up turned boss l8 respectively. The two levers 13 are pivoted to the upper and lower bosses by means of the long pin 29, and are separated and kept properly spaced by the spacing sleeve It. The power arms 113a of the levers I3 are part of a pair of toggle arms connected together by the two pins 2! and 2m at the knee of the toggle.

22 designates the jamb face of the refrigerator cabinet. 23 is a thick pad or rubber Weatherstrip adapted to bear against the jamb face or the refrigerator. 24 designates the recess in the refrigerator pillar in which the mounting plate and part of the concealed hinge are located.

Fig. 2 shows the refrigerator door closed. The controlling arm I5 is made up of four plates (see Fig. 5) and is pivoted to the two brackets 25 and 25a of mounting plate 5 by pin 26.

When the door is opened by pulling on the handle 21, the door swings open as shown in Fig. 4 and then keeps on swinging until, as in Fig. 6, the lever B has the power arm to striking the stop 28 on the mounting plate 2 of the cabinet. This holds the door, in a substantially perpendicular position and prevents it from swinging beyond the proper position and possibly striking the wall or something else in the way. The concealed hinge has the very useful function of puiling the hinging edge of the door toward the opening in the cabinet so that the door does not swing out beyond the side of the cabinet. This is very useful when the cabinet is located in an alcove or where the hinge is used upon a domestic freezer with a lid which swings to near vertical or vertical position.

When the door or lid closes, the toggle formed by the link 12 and the short arm its of the 3 lever l3 swings from a position at one side of the straight line between the two pivot points and H to a position on the other side of the straight line between these two pivots. In Fig. 2 the toggle arms l2 and 13a are outside the center line between their pivots I I and 20. As the door opens, the toggle arms pass center and take the angular position shown in Fig. 4 and the acutely angular position shown in Fig. 6. If a force is exerted on the hinge edge of the door tending to lift or pry the hinge edge open, this operates directly on the lever 8 which swings on its fulcrum and then thrusts clockwise on the pivot ll (Fig. 2), and this simply pushes downward on the toggle set and locks the door all the tighter to the cabinet at the hinge edge. On the other hand, if an eiiort is put on the door tending to rotate the door outwardly from the free edge on the pin 9, this causes the control arm IE to pull on the lever l3 and break the toggle lock and swing the toggle arms inwardly as shown in Figs. 4 and 6.

In the modified form of the invention shown in Figs. 7 and 9, the levers 8b and [3b are not hockey stick shaped levers, but 13b is nearly a straight arm and 8b is a T arm. The arm ISD is a lever of the first order. There are two of these levers 13b, each with two plates. The main hinge arm or lever 8b, which is made up of a plurality of leaves or plies is T shaped with a I slight hook or hockey stick form on the end of the lever which is pivoted to the door mounting plate at 201). One end of the bar of the T or hooked lever 81) is pivoted at 2 lb to the connecting links 12b. There are two of these links, each of only one ply. Strong tensile springs 3|] are secured one to each end of the pivot pin Zlb. The other end of the bar of the T lever 81) is fulcrumed to the cabinet mounting bracket 21) by means of the pivot pin lb. This type of hinge is intended primarily for a cabinet such as a domestic freezer, which has an upwardly swinging lid.

In the fully closed position-Fig. 7, the spring pulling on pivot pin Zlb exerts a pull on the line inwardly of a straight line between pivots Nb and 20b, and also a straight line position between pivots 14b and Nb. It is believed that the effective toggle in the fully closed position is between the pivots Mb and 20b and includes as toggle members the spring and the power arm of lever 8b. As soon as one starts to lift the lid for the first inch or two there is spring resistance to the lifting, but as soon as the lid has been raised a couple of inches the knee of this toggle Zlb passes the straight line between pivots 20b, and Mb, the two main hinge arms or levers 8b and 31) nearly completely fold up in near parallel relationship as shown in Fig. 8 and the control arm llib pulls almost all the way down, thereby shortening the spring very considerably from the length shown in Fig. '7 where the lid is closed. In all this shortening action, this tractile spring has been pulling to help lift the lid and acting as a counterpoise spring to hold the lid partially open or fully open. Of course as a counterpoise spring to effect this holding action, the spring has to be of the correct strength. If it is too strong, it will pull the lid completely open. If

it is too weak, it will fail to hold the lid in a position of partial opening.

In the hinge of Figs. 7 and 9, the checking lug 3! is on the lever I31) and this lug strikes the lever 8b (Fig. 8) to check the door in the fully open position of 98.

The feature of these two hinges is that this hardware is completely hidden when the door is closed. Either type of hinge checks the door or lid at approximately Either type of hinge pulls the hinging edge of the door or lid in toward the cabinet opening so as not to hit an adjoining wall or other things. When the hinge is used for a lid, the load of the fully open lid is on the two levers and control link in almost straight lines of their length, so as to put the least strain on the levers and link.

In order to refer to both doors and lids in the claims, I have used the all inclusive word closure.

What I claim is:

1. A concealed hinge and closure check having in combination a mounting plate for attachment to a stationary pillar, a mounting plate for secur- 7 ing to a closure, at hooked end lever of the first order pivoted to the mounting plate of the closure at one end of the lever and fulcrumed at the elbow of the hook on the mounting plate of the stationary pillar, a second lever of the first order fulcrumed on the mounting plate of the stationary pillar, a short link connecting the adjacent ends of the two levers, and a control link connecting the mounting plate for the closure with free end of the second named lever.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1 in which there is a stop provided for arresting the levers when a substantially perpendicular opening of the door has been had.

3. The combination claimed in claim 1 in which the levers and short link form a toggle which throws over center to lock the lid edge in the final closing movement.

4. The combination claimed in claim 1 in which a tractile counterpoise spring connects the joint at the swinging end of the control link and the adjacent lever and the joint between the short link and the hooked end of the other lever.

5. The combination claimed in claim 1 in which the first mentioned lever comprises a pile of eight plates, the second mentioned arm comprises four plates in two piles, separated by a spacing sleeve, and the short connecting linkage comprises two links, each on the outside of the two levers but at opposite sides, and in which the control arm comprises a pile of four plates between the two second mentioned levers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 721,327 Rickel et a1. Feb. 24, 1903 1,491,781 Axen Apr. 29, 19 4 2,185,213 Claud-Mantle Jan. 2, 1940 2,271,422 Gould Jan. 2'7, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 62,570 Sweden Mar. 8, 1927 

